Macworld San Francisco 2006 Rumor Roundup

[MacRumors]

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With Macworld San Francisco (MWSF) quickly approaching, the Mac rumor scene has been buzzing with rumors and reports. As usual, MacRumors provides this Rumor Roundup as a summary of major rumors circulating around the Mac Web before the big event. In last year's roundup we discussed Flash Based iPods (-> iPod Shuffle), New Apple Apps (-> iWork), and a $499 Headless iMac (-> Mac mini) during the pre-show roundup.

Intel Macs

The big news this year was, of course, Apple's announcement that the Macintosh will be moving to Intel processors. Understandably all eyes are on this possibility at this year's Macworld, despite official promises that the first Intel Macs would be shipping by mid 2006.

Interestingly, the first rumors and speculation about the Intel Macs came from Intel's processor roadmap. Immediately following the announcement, MacCentral sources pointed to Intel's upcoming low-power dual core Yonah processor as the likely candidate for the first of the Intel Macs.

First actual hints at a timeframe came in November with an early report from Appleinsider that the first Intel Macs would be appearing "much sooner" than mid 2006.

There has since been a flurry of disjointed rumors about various Intel Mac models appearing in January -- Mac mini (Forbes), iMac (Appleinsider), iBook (ThinkSecret).

Amongst them, however, ThinkSecret appeared most confident with a report from "reliable sources" that Apple is planning on introducing both Intel iBooks and Mac minis at MWSF 2006.

The new iBook is expected to be a widescreen model with a 13.3" screen 1280x720 screen. This correlates with an earlier report from Appleinsider noting a similar 13" widescreen look to the upcoming iBooks. And indeed our Buyers Guide shows that the iBooks have had the longest lead time since their last update.

Meanwhile, the Mac mini is expected to evolve into a digital media hub with support for DVR, an iPod Dock as well as an updated Front Row media application. We've also received hints that Apple is planning on adopting Intel's Viiv platform which promises to help provide much this functionality.

iPod

With back to back releases of the iPod nano and the 5G iPod before the 2005 shopping season, there are few expectations for updated iPods in January.

Only the iPod shuffles are expected to be updated, but with few details on the changes.


iLife '06

Apple typically updates their iLife suite of applications each year at Macworld San Francisco. This year appears to be no different after a small mistake on Apple's website Thursday morning. Apple's site revealed links to iLife '06 as well as a new application called iWeb.

There's been very little information about upcoming iApps from Apple this rumor season, but Appleinsider claims that the new application will be a Web design application with "easy drag-and-drop capability for a variety of Web-optimized content and media types."

Other?

There has been surprisingly little buzz about brand new products from Apple. One potentially interesting rumor of an Airport Express for Video appeared in early October and was coupled to an accurate report of the 5G iPod. Though no further rumors about this product have since surfaced, it would fit in conveniently with a media center Mac mini.

Finally, Appleinsider also reported that Apple is planning new iPod "companion" products -- one of which will be an iPod Boombox unlike "anything Apple has released in the past".

Coverage

Apple will not be providing a live Quicktime stream of the event. Instead a replay will be posted following the keynote address. MacRumors.com will be providing live coverage if at all possible.

[puckhead193]

so wait... no G5 Powerbooks

[runninmac]

Oh goodie! Sounds like a great year, I really would love one of the DVR Mac minis, but I just got my iBook... Ill just wait till Memron(). Im not sure how I feel about this "iWeb" but im sure Steve will blow us away with all the new product anouncements.

I cant wait to see what Mr. Ive has up his sleve in the industrial design department

[yankeefan24]

Originally Posted by puckhead193

so wait... no G5 Powerbooks

I'm still trying to figure out why apple would make a dual core ibook before a powerbook. we all kno that a mac mini will be coming, so that would leave the powerbook the slowest mac in the mac line. does any one agree that having the powerbook the slowest is a bad idea? Maybe update both ibook and powerbook, but i think it would be a mistake for apple to make the ibook faster than the powerbook.

EDIT: I just looked on the apple store, and realized that in over a year, the powerbooks have only been upgraded .17 GHz!!! Another reason to upgrade the powerbook. if they do upgrade the iBook, it will be WITH the powerbook NOT instead.

[solaris]

Originally Posted by yankeefan24

does any one agree that having the powerbook the slowest is a bad idea? Maybe update both ibook and powerbook, but i think it would be a mistake for apple to make the ibook faster than the powerbook.

I agree!
Lets hope Apple dont even go there...

EDIT: I just looked on the apple store, and realized that in over a year, the powerbooks have only been upgraded .17 GHz!!! Another reason to upgrade the powerbook. if they do upgrade the iBook, it will be WITH the powerbook NOT instead.

The 1.5GHz PB was released april 19, 2004, so its actually over 20 months and only 0.17GHz! What a shame!
No wonder they decided to leave IBM and Motorola for Intel.

[Goldfinger]

Originally Posted by yankeefan24

I'm still trying to figure out why apple would make a dual core ibook before a powerbook. we all kno that a mac mini will be coming, so that would leave the powerbook the slowest mac in the mac line. does any one agree that having the powerbook the slowest is a bad idea? Maybe update both ibook and powerbook, but i think it would be a mistake for apple to make the ibook faster than the powerbook.

EDIT: I just looked on the apple store, and realized that in over a year, the powerbooks have only been upgraded .17 GHz!!! Another reason to upgrade the powerbook. if they do upgrade the iBook, it will be WITH the powerbook NOT instead.

The iBooks will have the current crop of Centrino Pentium Ms in them and the PowerBook will go with Yonah dual core if you ask me.

I don't see why everybody insists on Yonahs in the iBooks. The current Pentium M is a great chip.

[WindowsSUCKSX5]

Originally Posted by Goldfinger

The iBooks will have the current crop of Centrino Pentium Ms in them and the PowerBook will go with Yonah dual core if you ask me.

I don't see why everybody insists on Yonahs in the iBooks. The current Pentium M is a great chip.

I highly agree with your statement. After seeing yonahs dual core, i find it hard to believe apple would totally put a new chip in the ibooks that would totally wipe out today's ppc powerbooks. My assumption after doing a decent amount of research is that we will likely see 1.5/1.6ghz centrino pentium m's in the ibooks and the yonahs in the powerbooks. I also think that with this new deal between apple and intel u will see more than just intel processors in the ibooks/powerbooks. You will likely see graphic cards etc. I think apple and intel are cutting eachother special deals right now. Especially after microsoft decided to run ppc chips instead of intels in the xbox 360.
All this will result in cheaper apple laptops. I am guessing ibooks and powerbooks will probably get a price drop of 100-200$. Then you will have a slightly different situation in the computer world. Apple will attract more people because they will now be a bit more consumer friendly price wise. Plus, all there consumer products will likely outperform those computers of its competitors. Intel gave apple the oppurtunity to make apple computers cooler,cheaper, but even higher quality. This will be a fantastic year for apple if they can pull off these new intels.

[Ensoniq]

Unlke some others here, I actually think it would be a GOOD idea for Apple to stop selling PPC machines immediately and upgrade the iBooks, Mac mini, PowerBooks and maybe even the iMacs all to Intel chips simultaneously.

Why? Because developers (especially the major ones like Adobe, Microsoft, etc.) have a habit of dragging their ass on some upgrades. Developers knew Tiger was coming for about a year, and how many programs were NOT Tiger ready when it was released in April? Too many.

By switching almost the entire lineup (except the PowerMacs) to Intel simultaneously, I think it will force the developers to speed up their Intel progress more than if we have a slow scattered transition period.

All of the "we can't go Intel right away because the pro apps aren't ready" talk is a little off base. ALL of Apple's apps are ready to go Intel. You can bet on it. And anyone running some pro app that only works on the PPC Macs already HAVE a PPC Mac. People going out to buy the Intel Macs today will be willing to put up with Rosetta, or they will wait to buy until some apps transition. But for Apple to delay the whole transition process because Macromedia and Adobe and others won't get moving is a big mistake.

Go, Intel, go! (What a difference 6 months make on perception, huh? Steve's Reality Distortion Field really is amazingly powerful...)

[applemax]

MWSF '06 transcript:

10:00 am

==========================

Steve appears on stage. He does the 3 acts thing.

--Act One--
--Media--

iPod shuffle has been successful. Charts / marketshare appear. All that stuff. Talks about the new iPod shuffle. Says its 1GB only. Due to the sucess of the black iPod, it will be in black aswell as white. He says he wants to move away from the lego type feel to something better. He shows a picture of the new shuffle with a black front, with same navigation and a chrome back. It has been made slightly wider too. This is because they have dropped the USB connector and are now using the dock connector.

Moves on to playing music. So far we have 4 places to playing our tunes. Car, Computer, Living Room and iPod. The car has been a brilliant success with over 30% of all cars in the US to have iPod features. Announces new car companies. Computer. Talks about iTunes. Talks about new feature. It's called MyTunes. This is where you have your own page on iTunes which is essentially a blog about music. Does a demo. iPod. Talks about success for iPod. He says: Now there was a rumour of a certain iPod a while back, but it was never done and it was forgotten about. Now we're doing it. He shows a photo on the screen of the iPod shuffle, Nano and Video. All in black. Suddenly he talks about the success of the U2 ipod and says that another artist is here. "Hung Up" starts playing, and all the iPods crossfade into glossy pink with black clickwheels with pink xbox 360 type rings on it. "The new Madonna iPods". They all include a poster of Madonna with her sig on the back. It includes a voucher for $50 off the Complete Madonna. The video Madonna ipod comes free with all available Madonna music videos on the ipod. Moves onto Living Room. Talks about AirPort Express. Very original, brilliant success. New model announced. Comes in white and black. Same thing but now does video. It also comes with the Apple Remote. New express has IRDA port for remote. Video is sent over 108mbps. Announces a new AirPort extreme too. 2 models. One with router and one with ADSL modem + router. White/black and comes with AirMedia (the new Airtunes + video).

Then, the screen changes back to a picture of the living room. The words, One more thing, appear. He announces a second Airport system. He calls it AirHome. This new device comes in white and black and is about the size of a slimline DVD player. It has an iPod dock on top and two harmon/kardon speakers attached. This connects wirelessly via AirMedia to your Mac to send video (connect AirHome to tv for this) and audio. It has a iPod dock for a sort of iPod boombox system. Does a demo. Moves on. Moves onto iLife and iWork. Announces new suites. Same iLife apps with new features and a new app called iCast. This is a dedicated podcast maker. $99. New iWork. New Pages, new keynote. 3 more new apps in iWork. Cells, Webpages and Mail Pro. Cells = spreadsheet. Webpages = WSIWIG web editor. Mail Pro = Outlook type client. Webpages has it's pages published through another app included in iLife that adds photos, music and movies to the website. It's called iWeb. One more thing. Announces Front Row for iLife

And that's Act One...

==Act 2==
==The Mac==

Talks about new OS. Leopard. Talks about new features. One of them is the ability to run two OSs at once. i.e OSX and Vista. Makes joke about vista launchdate. Then talks about Macintel. Says this," We said we would have no Intel systems until 2006." Talks about portables. Introduces new Macintels. iBook and Powerbook. Both have swivel screens to form into tablets. And one special feature. The laptop screens have built in scanners for documents. . All laptops have backlit keyboards. New portables also have a MightyPress. Similar to mighty mouse. The mouse button has pressure sensors. Then introduces new intel Mac Mini. Now comes with Mighty Mouse. Shows new Mac ad showing the iBook, powerbook, mac mini. And a small preview of the iMac and Powermacs. You dont see much of the iMac and Powermac. Just a shot of the word iMac on the casing and the famous G5 aluminium holes. Although you see the inside of the powermac and instead of G5, it has the Intel swish logo (the new one) but instead of Intel it has the apple logo. Talks about home intergration. Intros new Front Row ViiV enabled screens. LCD 37inch and Plasma 42inch. Both are HD ready (1080p) running Mac OS X x86 Tiger: Front Row edition. AirPort and Bluetooth enabled. Controlled with laser pointer.

==Act 3==
==Retail==

Announces new store. Calls it the iPod Shop. Just sells iPods. Each store is about the size of a toilet. Just consists of a kiosk. 50 of these are opening around the US, 20 in Japan and 40 in Europe. New Apple Stores too. 15 new stores opening in UK. 40 in Europe. New improved online store too. New payment system called AppleCash. Similar to iTunes gift certifacates, these credits can be used for music, prints, photo albums and items on the Apple Store. They also announce a new Reward Card called iSwipe. Collect points for products.

Thank you all for coming, and we'll see you in WWDC. Walks off... Music begins, Black Eyed Peas or summin'



Music cuts. Steve runs back on. Shouts out, there is one more thing. Apple announce partnership with Nintendo. Shigsy walks on and talks for ages. They demo the new Revolution console running on a cutdown version of Tiger. Revolution comes with iPod dock and it has iTunes on it. More special products between Nintendo and Apple promised for the near future

[Riot_Mac]

Looking forward to it!! I just bought a PB thought.

[BlueRevolution]

yep. we're gonna see all of it at MWSF too I'm sure

[ibook30]

I hope to see new shuffles - but iLife 06 sounds very intriguing.
Hoping for a couple of surprises - like Christmas morning!

[javabear90]

My gut feeling (usually right) still thinks that an intel powerbook makes much more sense and is very probable over an intel iBook. I know many other's on MR agree with me. iBooks will absoloutly DESTROY powerbook sales if they release ibooks and not powerbooks.

[ibookowner2]

I cant wait any longer!!!

[Lacero]

Just itching in my pants!

I'm really sore in my groin area from all the scratching I've been doing the past few days, anxiously anticipating MWSF.

Thanks for the round-up, but I fear it has made my itching worse!

[azzurri000]

i like the recap!

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

Originally Posted by azzurri000

i like the recap!

...what an insightful response....

What about iWork 06? I'm hoping for a replacement for Excel like all of us, although hopefully they refine Pages' purpose to be less Publisher-like and more World-like.

[kalisphoenix]

Powerbook next --

*gets sacked*

[azzurri000]

Originally Posted by AvSRoCkCO1067

...what an insightful response....

What about iWork 06? I'm hoping for a replacement for Excel like all of us, although hopefully they refine Pages' purpose to be less Publisher-like and more World-like.

I try.

I love the design of the current powerbook (don't own one, though.) I hope they don't change it too much.

[MacIke]

I wondering about iWork.... will there be a new update? How about numbers? That is what I want though I have been using pages for close to six months and Keynote since it was first released.

[sorryiwasdreami]

Originally Posted by AvSRoCkCO1067

...what an insightful response....

I like the recap, too.

[Super Dave]

Originally Posted by AvSRoCkCO1067

...what an insightful response....
<snip>

The guy was saying he appreciated articles like this. Recaps are not NEW material, so in this case I'd say it was an insightful response.

Even if it wasn't, do we need to be mean to the newbies? Or anyone?

David

[runninmac]

Originally Posted by Lacero

Just itching in my pants!

I'm really sore in my groin area from all the scratching I've been doing the past few days, anxiously anticipating MWSF.

Oh I know! I may have to be "sick" and stay home from all the itching just to watch this all unfold! I really really hope a site has live coverage. It would be a downer if they didnt

Edit:1,000 post...

[BlueRevolution]

if I skipped school for MWSF I'd wake up around noon, go straight to the Apple site and spend 2 hours looking at every page (including the "bundled software" page that is the same for every line). then I'd go watch the keynote. then I'll go to MR and read all my fellow Mac lovers' complaints about what they didn't get.

sounds like a good plan actually

edit: wait, no. stupid first day of the new term.

[ScubaDuc]

Originally Posted by Lacero

Just itching in my pants!

I'm really sore in my groin area from all the scratching I've been doing the past few days, anxiously anticipating MWSF.

Thanks for the round-up, but I fear it has made my itching worse!

Are you sure it is not just a Candida albicans (yeast) infection? It usually does affect the groin area.... :